Ethical toiletries group The Body Shop is in talks to be taken over, it said today.

Ethical toiletries group The Body Shop is in talks to be taken over, it said today.

The firm, which earlier this year saw its £290 million takeover talks with Mexican firm Omnilife abandoned, said it was in preliminary discussions with "a number of interested parties".

The Body Shop has a store in Broad Street, Reading.

The announcement follows speculation that founder Anita Roddick and her husband, who together own about a quarter of the firm, were preparing to sell out.

Possible buyers have been tipped to include private equity house Schroder Ventures.

The confirmation of talks comes two weeks after Body Shop revealed it had received unsolicited interest from a number of third parties -although it said at that time it was not in takeover

discussions with anyone.

Today's announcement also came as Body Shop showed profits over the last half year had dived.

Pre-tax profits for the 26 weeks to September 1 fell to £2.6 million, from £6.8 million last time, while turnover rose five per cent to £167.1 million.

And in an update on trading, the group added worldwide retail sales had been affected by the terrorist attacks in the US, which increased overall uncertainty about economic stability and consumer confidence.

It added that, in common with many other retailers, its outcome for the full year was "highly reliant on trading during the Christmas period".

However, the firm is sticking with its previous profit forecasts made a week after the US attacks, which said it expects full-year profits before one-off costs to be "broadly in line with last year".